Spotlighting Female-fronted Fintech Ventures in the Fall Scholarship Program of Our Platform
The Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program at FinovateFall 2025 is set to elevate five female-led fintech startups, each bringing innovative solutions with strong commitments to sustainability, inclusion, and financial empowerment. The program, designed to increase diversity on the Finovate stage, aims to foster broader perspectives in the industry.
Among the scholarship recipients is Kaaj AI, a San Francisco-based company founded in 2024. Kaaj AI offers an AI-powered platform for banks and credit unions, helping them better understand and serve small businesses, thereby growing loan portfolios and managing risks more effectively. Shivi Sharma serves as the Co-Founder and President of Kaaj AI.
Another recipient is Gentreo, headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts, and founded in 2018. Gentreo provides affordable, accessible digital life and estate planning solutions for families, helping create recurring revenue opportunities beyond balance sheets. Renee Fry is the CEO of Gentreo.
The program's focus areas include championing financial inclusion and diversity in fintech ecosystems, supporting startups tackling climate change and sustainability issues, and highlighting innovation by female founders addressing unmet needs in financial services through technology.
Though details are scarce, Krida based in New York and Warrant headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, are also expected to present their solutions at the event. Krida automates application data intake, insights, and document generation, enabling bankers to focus on building their businesses. Warrant, on the other hand, accelerates compliant marketing, reducing review cycles from days to minutes.
MoneyPlanned, headquartered in Bengaluru, India, empowers institutions to offer intelligent, automated financial planning, boosting advisor efficiency, reducing cost-to-serve, and delivering personalized client experiences at scale. Nikhila Putcha is one of its Co-Founders.
The Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program serves as a platform for the next generation of fintech leaders to present their solutions emphasizing financial inclusion, sustainable growth, and technology-driven innovation to a broad fintech audience. The program's goal is to showcase these leaders at FinovateFall 2025, held September 8-10 in New York, bringing more voices, more perspectives, and cutting-edge innovation to the forefront of the fintech industry.
- Kaaj AI's AI-powered platform in the finance sector assists banks and credit unions to better serve small businesses, promoting financial empowerment, thereby aligning with the Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program's focus on financial inclusion.
- Gentreo's digital life and estate planning solutions, while primarily addressing family needs, create recurring revenue opportunities, which could contribute to the impactful business strategies the scholarship program aims to foster.
- The Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program, aside from backing female-led fintech startups, also seeks to support organizations that tackle climate change and sustainability issues, such as the potential presented by Krida and Warrant, though specifics are not yet disclosed.
